World’s Most Weird Rituals And Festivals: Part II

Here are another 12 weirdest rituals and festivals of all around the world.

Bathroom Ban

In the Indonesian Tidong’s wedding, the groom isn’t allowed to see the bride’s face until he sings her several love songs. And after the marriage, the bride and the groom aren’t allowed to use the bathroom for three days and nights.

Tidong people think that not involving the ritual would bring awful luck to the couple – a broken wedding, infidelity, or death of their kids at a young age. So the pair is watched over by several people, and allowed only nominal amounts of food and drink. After the three days, they bath and then allowed to return to normal life.

Bear Worship

The Ainu people, native to parts of Japan and Russia, believed that bears are gods walking among humans, and the sacrifice of the bear is said to bless the soul of mankind. It involves killing a hibernating mother bear in her cave, raising her cubs in captivity for two years, then choking or spearing them as a sign of religious devotion. This is followed by villagers drinking the bears’ blood, eating the flesh, and placing the skull atop a spear wrapped with the bear skin, which is to be worshiped.

Blackening of Bride

The Scottish people are not like any other European. Their men wear skirts and they can make music out of a bag. But even more bizarre is what they do with their newlywed bride. Instead of throwing rice, the Scots welcome their bride with eggs and sauces on her face. They dub this strange ritual as the “blackening of bride”.
“Blackening of bride” is a very old pre-marriage ritual practiced in Scotland. The bride is taken by surprise, or rather by shock, as the friends and family cover her with any gross they can think of. It can be anything from curdled milk, rotten eggs, and molasses to mud and syrups.

Mourning of Muharram

The Mourning of Muharram is an important period of mourning in Shia Islam, taking place in Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is also called the Remembrance of Muharram. Many of the events associated with the remembrance take place in congregation halls known as Hussainia. The event marks the anniversary of the Battle of Karbala when Imam Hussein ibn Ali was killed by the forces of the second Umayyad caliph Yazid I.

The event reaches its climax on the tenth day morning, known as Ashura. Some groups of Shia Muslims join in an ardous practice that involves body whipping with special chains that have razors and knives attached. This tradition is practiced by all age groups; in some regions the children are forced by their parents to take part. This custom is observed by the people of Iran, Bahrain, India, Lebanon, Iraq and Pakistan.

Bride Kidnapping

This tradition of snatching the bride from under the nose of groom and guests with the wedding party in full swing is still getting massive popularity in the Romanian capital.

If a man likes the look of a woman, even if he has never met her before, he can forcibly kidnap her. If he can then keep her by his side for three days without her escaping, she officially becomes his wife, at least in the eyes of the Romani community.

This practice is more formally known as “marriage by abduction”. The practice is also carried out by some tribes in Central Asia and Africa.

Shinto naked festival

Since 767 AD, every year across Japan, over 9,000 men participate in the annual Shinto Naked Festival, also known as Hadaka Matsuri. A highlight of the festival is the Shio-fumi ritual in which heavy Shinto shrines are carried by dozens of semi-naked men dressed in loin cloths (fundoshi) through the streets of their town. One man is chosen as the Shin-otokoa, or Naked Man, who must shave all body hair and run through the streets unclothed while being pursued by thousands of male festival goers trying to touch him for good luck and prosperity.

In recent years, women have also participated. The festival is popular both with Japanese and foreign tourists and individual towns often host family activities as well as the traditional macho entertainment: food stalls, games, and kiosks that sell festival souvenirs are the most popular.

Wearing Collars of Metal (Thailand and other African tribes)

The custom of wearing neck rings is related to an ideal of beauty: an elongated neck. The rings are, in fact, a long brass-wound spiral. The spiral is wound around the neck manually by women. Brass is a tough metal and the process can take several hours depending on length.
The length of the coil is gradually increased to as much as twenty turns. The weight of the coils eventually places sufficient pressure on the shoulder blades to cause them to deform, creating an impression of a longer neck.

Baby Throwing

The bizarre ritual of throwing newborn babies off a temple 50ft high and catching them in a cloth has been celebrated in India since last 500 years. The ritual takes place in the first week of December, and is believed to bring health, prosperity and luck to new arrivals. Around 200 babies are dropped by their parents every year while crowds sing and dance.

Dancing With The Dead

The people of Madagascar have a unique ritual to celebrate family ties called Famadihana, also known as ‘turning of the bones’. It is a festival celebrated every 7 years or so, during which family crypts are opened up and the remains of dead ancestors are brought out to be wrapped in a new cloth. The Malagasy then dance with the corpses in great joy. Live music is played, animals are sacrificed and the meat is distributed to various guests and members of the family. The elders explain to their children the importance of the dead who are lying before them. Famadihana is viewed as a day to show your family just how much you love them. Extended families get together and celebrate kinship.

Carrying wife over burning coal

A tradition in Chinese culture says, a husband should carry his bride over a pan of burning coals before entering their home for the very first time. According to tradition, this custom is performed to ensure she will have an easy and successful labor.

The Eskimo Funerary Ritual

A rather well-known fact about Eskimos is their ritual of setting the elderly adrift on a floating iceberg when facing death or old age. Eskimos believe in the afterlife for the dead, and this practice is a way of ensuring the elderly are not a burden on the family by sending them off in a dignified and graceful manner.

Man Down

The Russian’s have their own traditional drinking game, that involves lots of vodka. The game is simply called “Man Down” and participants must stand in a circle each wielding a bottle of vodka. The goal is simple; keep drinking until someone falls over or passes out and you must drink! Refusing to drink is considered an insult.

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